Inverted House of Cards, 1969/1983

CommentaryLike Frank Stella and Dan Flavin, the sculptor Richard Serra limited the use of his artistic means in the early nineteen-sixties, focusing on the basic qualities of the material in question. In ›Inverted House of Cards‹, he used four square plates of steel the size of a human body. He chose not to polish the surface of the steel since rusting is one of its material properties. The artist did not change his approach in the least when making this sculpture, but instead, took advantage of both weight and gravity. Serra leaned the steel plates against each other vertically so that they hold up each other—like cards in a house of cards. In an earlier version designed for interior space, he had assimilated the plates to create a closed cube. With ›Inverted House of Cards‹, the artist was responding to exterior space: The plates were erected in such a way that the group opens up to the surrounding environment, with a form that is almost reminiscent of a ship’s propeller or a windmill. It almost seems plausible that a gust of wind could push this house of cards over at any given moment.

Like Frank Stella and Dan Flavin, the sculptor Richard Serra limited the use of his artistic means in the early nineteen-sixties, focusing on the basic qualities of the material in question. In ›Inverted House of Cards‹, he used four square plates of steel the size of a human body. He chose not to polish the surface of the steel since rusting is one of its material properties. The artist did not change his approach in the least when making this sculpture, but instead, took advantage of both weight and gravity. Serra leaned the steel plates against each other vertically so that they hold up each other—like cards in a house of cards. In an earlier version designed for interior space, he had assimilated the plates to create a closed cube. With ›Inverted House of Cards‹, the artist was responding to exterior space: The plates were erected in such a way that the group opens up to the surrounding environment, with a form that is almost reminiscent of a ship’s propeller or a windmill. It almost seems plausible that a gust of wind could push this house of cards over at any given moment.